The Rangers are really hitting these past two nights. It's probably because Chris Davis is a Red Hawk. Also, I'm so beat down by the #voteiankinsler bit that everyone is taking part of. I want to see him there just as much as the next Rangers homer does, but I don't need to be reminded to vote every 30 sec. by Josh Lewin and his gang of ironically awkward puns. Sometimes I just want me some down home Eric Nadel.

I finally finished this season of LOST, and WOW. Strong showing. Best acting I've ever seen out of Sawyer. I loved the scene where Juliet was dangling by a thread in the tunnel? nuclear war zone? magnate suction cup thing? She ends up falling (big surprise), but to come back to life and end up igniting the H-Bomb...that was sick. Every year, LOST leaves you with a few more answers but a million more questions you know will never get answered, yet everyone returns ready to suckle on the teet of one of the greatest shows I've witnessed in my 22 years of existence. Good stuff right there.

Has anyone been paying attention to what the Cowboys have been doing in the past few months? I didn't think so. Maybe that's a good thing...

Meanwhile, the Mavericks are actually choosing to trade for Shawn Marion (what a pure shooting stroke he has). I guess, technically, his skills will upgrade the current roster, but when we get a guy like Gortat (who I do really like) who also immediately upgrades the roster, what does that tell you about Shawn Marion and the current Mavs roster? Dropping large amounts of cash on a 30 year old who relies solely on dwendling athleticism and the hope of being wide open in the corner for a three, really makes me question what the Mavs are doing this off season. If there is another move to happen afterward, regarding Josh Howard, maybe this makes more sense, but as of now it doesn't seem like a great personnel move. This sums up how I feel about the whole situation: "The Mavs trade leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like an Andes mint, its tastes good, but doesn't get the job done." I tweeted that to Bob Sturm in hopes of a RT or response, but so far I got nothing.

Music update: check out The Everybodyfields. Apparently they aren't a band anymore (pursuing their own careers), but they've got a great sound. The Josh Weathers Band, or more recently known as Josh Weathers & the True+Endeavors, are also a great band with an excellent soul sound. They are also from Ft. Worth, so I know at least Garrett Sublette will check them out.

One last blurb. This is EXACTLY how I feel about sports. No ifs, ands, or buts about it:

"As I was leaving a frigid Texas Stadium after the game, I was walking right behind a Dad and his boy. The boy must have been 7 or 8 years old and was crying about the result. Some people might roll their eyes, but I knew how the boy felt. When you are young, and you love a sports team, you believe the games and the seasons will all have the happy endings of the Disney movies that you watch. Guess what, son, if you are going to pledge allegiance to a team as it appears you have with the Dallas Cowboys, I want to welcome you to the fellowship of the die-hards. Understand, that once you do, you are not allowed out of this commitment, and you should also understand that most seasons are going to end in tears. A favorite team is the only thing a male human feels the same about when he is 5 and when he is 45 and when he is 75. You will change your mind on everything else. Girls, money, hobbies. But, you will always still feel the adrenaline rush of a win, and the gutting sadness of a horrible loss. I didn’t say anything to the boy, as his Dad was handling it (and he might not have welcomed my advice) but I felt for him. Welcome to sports, young man. Someday, you may live to see a championship or five, but most years will end with your guts spilling onto the floor." - Bob Sturm

The HangoverI went to my friend's lake house this weekend on Lake Bridgeport, and it was once again a STRONG weekend. The first day, I pretty much did every trick possible on a wake board, except getting up on the wake board. Fortunately, the last day we were there I was able to stir up enough strength in my chicken legs to be able to rise up and shred some wake. The constant mocking I took from a Mr. Benjamin "I like girls named Lauren" Berryman and Blaine "Yeah, I'll bail out on a tube ride because my neck hurts" Martin wasn't even the worst part of the weekend for me. It was the fact that just about every single person visiting the lake was quoting the greatness, that is the film, The Hangover. I already knew I was one of the only 3 humans on the face of the earth that hadn't seen this miraculous, comedic piece of cinema, but their constant rattling off of seemingly humorous statements forced me to check it out for myself immediately upon my return to Salado/Austin.

And I was not disappointed in the least.

I checked it out with the other 2 humans who hadn't seen it yet, Grant and Shealynn Davis (I used her last name becasue she will run that household). We hit up the Alamo Draft House, and the experience couldn't have been better. The draft house serves dinner and drinks while you watch the movie, so needless to say, we were watching the movie the way it's supposed to be watched. The outrageously funny one liners will certainly live on to rival those of Wedding Crashers, Old School, and Dumb and Dumber.

Philstars9This morning, as I arose from my much needed beauty sleep, I rolled over to my most beautiful...

iPhone (you were thinking something else weren't you). I had a text from my good friend Phillip Mistretta, who also used to be a big Mikey Modano fan, back in the day (hence the AIM screen name which entitles this paragraph). He is currently in Nashvegas, Tennessee, working with one of his many bands there. He asked if I would check out a new song they were covering, on which he plays sax, as well as produces. This band is known as Downtown Fever, they perform at large events such as weddings, formals, galas etc. He asked me to review their cover of Jay-Z's song "Show Me What You Got", from the Kingdom Come album, and I must say, it was sick. This band is similar to a band many of you DFWer's (or Glass Cactus goers) may know of as the Emerald City Band.

I loved that he asked me to critique his work because 1.) I love to listen to music and disect the odds and ends of it, and 2.) I felt like someone else had found me to be a credible soure for what good music sounds like. Many people pride themselves on what kind of music they listen to and how the music effects their lives, and I'm one of those people.

Music is something that allows you to express your emotions through what someone else is doing, much like sports. For example, when the Rangers, Mavs, or Cowboys put together a rather impressive or impprobbale victory, you are able to rejoice in the fact that your team "just did that". I can also feel that same amount of "glee" whenever I hear Brad Paisley, Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or Jonathan Tyler destroy a guitar only the way they can. The hair on your arms begins to rise, chills are shot through your body, and your stomach is turning knots because you realize you're wittnessing greatness.

So many people tend to mock other's music because it is not their similar tastes, but I say, if Coheed and Cambria, or The Used is what knocks your socks off, then go out there and let it move you. To each their own.

As the great Bob Marley said, "One good thing about music. When it hits you, you feel no pain."

To recap:

Yay music!

One last note, if I were micro-blogging right now, I'd say,

Still watching the #Rangers by myself in my apartment alone...but they're not struggling anymore! (98 characters)

Monday, June 22, 2009

I thought I might update you on my recent musings. I was all worked up, last week, about the Texas Rangers and how many of their fans are so casual, that it almost makes the games not as interesting to attend. However, my Rangers intensity has dwindled down a bit so I'll keep this post a bit more light-hearted (sorry @garrettsublette).

h2. Nerd Life

For those of you that don't understand why I typed "h2. Nerd Life" instead of "Nerd Life", I feel sorry for you. That's right, I've decided to dive, fingers-first, into the most un-glamorous, least sexy, and most of all, the most prone to carpel tunnel syndrome hobby of all time...web design.

Now before you start thinking...can I get you some tape for those glasses, lets analyze this situation, shall we...

I view web design as a tool to be added to your own personal tool box. If you plan on marketing a product, or persona, or company, ever in the future of your existence, you must have a website designed for that "thing". If you don't, you're missing 24-hours a day, worldwide advertising. And when it's done the right way (i.e. SEO), you will be able to reap far more benefits, customers, or fame.

When you can take a look at it from that aspect, and then realize that these websites can be made at a minimal cost by yourself, why not make a strong attempt at learning how to market yourself on the internets (No Mom, it's called internet. You don't have to put the "s" on it every time). If you're more than likely going to need a website, why wouldn't you just learn how to make it for yourself, instead of having GandR do it for you (kidding, if you're lazy like everyone, and probably eventually me regarding this topic, then you must choose GandR for any web design or SEO needs you'll ever have, ever!)? Your pocketbook will still have money, your nerdbrain (yes, it's one word) will grow ever stronger, and you can even impress The Man with your skills on your resume (if you're into that kind of thing).

So that's how I feel about that, in case you were curious.-I've also been working...for Coggin. I'm trying to become part of the NR.

Things in Salado have been great. I've been put in charge of the entire online marketing section of the company, Andreeva Portrait Academy. In other words, I've opened a Twitter account listed under AndreevaArt. It's been fascinating learning how to promote not only yourself, but your product as well throughout the Twittersphere.

In short, if you own a company or you're trying to promote a product, you'd be an idiot to not have a Twitter account, much like a website.

Well that's all I'll be spitting out today. As you can tell, my nerdbrain is on overload these days, so that's the reason for the lack of sports, music, or all around interesting topics that I'm interested in.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

It's been a strong string of days since I last tossed my brain towards everyone's favorite blog, so here we go!

I took a play out of my non-sports enthusiast friend, Garrett Winder's, playbook by making notes on my iPhone about topics I'll want to discuss during my "blog sesh" as I like to call it. The list reads as follows:

-Hate golfEntrepreneur magMed masksReading book-

Those were all taken on the plane ride to Lake Tahoe for my friend's wedding, one of the stronger times in recent memory.

I'll only discuss the first and third topics tonight simply because that's all I want to do. It's my blog, not yours.

Hate golfGolf might be the craziest sport I've ever played. It takes literally one swing to change your entire view of the game. It also only takes one swing to make you need to repent for the words that just left your lips.

I was "fortunate" enough to play golf twice this week, starting with a course in Dallas known as Bear Creek. This course generated the title for the note which was entered on my iPhone. Have you ever been in "poop-pants" mode? Do you ever feel like Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh? Do you ever purposely pull out the worst driving range ball you can find in your bag because you know your next swing will force you to lose your 8th ball of the day? Because I have. Basically this chance of playing relatively cheap golf in Dallas was a waste of an afternoon.

However,

The beautiful piny woods of Lake Tahoe were soon upon me and my comrades. We were poised to enjoy the scenery, swing the sticks, and not sweat the small stuff on the course. We quickly realized it wasn't going to be hard to sweat when the temp was low 70's in the thin mountain air (a.k.a. perfect). Don't believe me? Check it:

The feeling of being on this golf course with my chaps allows me to do this:Hate Love golf

Well...I promised you some great Meds masks talk on here, but it's getting late and I start my internship in Salado, Texas tomorrow (jealousy is a wasted emotion). To quickly sum up the masks situation:

Monday, June 8, 2009

Here we go, first blog post ever (I'm sure that line's never been used). Hopefully, this blog will be a place for me to vent, since I have no siblings to call (only child). I enjoy sports, music, certain television shows, 1310 The Ticket, and currently being told to get a job by my parents. I'm a recent grad of Abilene Christian University (yea I know what you're thinking, the DII track and field power house).

The few blogs I currently read are at Inside Corner via The Dallas Observer, but more specifically Bob Sturm at the Inside Corner. I also dilly dally around at Lone Star Ball. Follow me on Twitter (name is on my profile) if you're into that kind of thing, if you're not, then don't.

I plan on describing what happens to me during the next six weeks as I'll be attending a few friends' weddings, and working in Salado, Texas as an unpaid intern for a buddy of mine who is opening two new art galleries in the oh so miraculous hill country.

If you're one of my friends reading this and you want to go ahead and make fun of me, but you'd rather not do it to my face, I think they have provided a pretty fun little comments section on this world wide internets bloggy web thing.

Well, tell all your friends if they don't want to learn anything and waste all their time, they should get on facebook, but if they want to be truly captivated and moved, they should probably pick the Bible over my blog, however if they want to know what I'm thinking about they should probably check my twitter account (that's really all it is), although if they think they want to know more than 140 characters regarding my thoughts, send 'em here.

I'll leave you with this thought, and hopefully some poor soul will stumble across this question and answer it. The quote "Hope is not a strategy." was stated by which current Oakland Athletics great? AND (bonus points) whose blog is this quote stolen from?